Healthier Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkins, pumpkins, everywhere! It seems no matter what I am looking for online I come across pumpkin recipes. With both Halloween and Thanksgiving quickly approaching, pumpkins are used in decorating as well as in both savory and sweet recipes. I must admit that I even have eight hundred and fifty seven pumpkin recipes pinned on my Pinterest board! As well as being delicious tasting, pumpkin is packed with vitamins, anti-oxidants, minerals, and dietary fiber. Pumpkin boasts such anti-oxidant vitamins such as vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin E and is a good source of B-complex group of vitamins like folates, niacin, vitamin B-6 (pyridoxine), thiamin and pantothenic acid. It is also rich source of minerals like copper, calcium, potassium and phosphorus.

Having recently had wrist surgery which resulted in having my left arm in a splint and sling, I was very restless to get back into the kitchen this week. I chose an easy recipe to tackle, and after looking through my pantry to see what I had on hand, I decided to make two loaves of spiced pumpkin bread. To make the recipe a little healthier, I used spelt flour in place of all-purpose flour, coconut palm sugar in place of white sugar, and coconut oil in place of butter. If you are not familiar with it, coconut palm sugar is a sugar substitute made from sap that is extracted from the coconut tree, and the taste of coconut palm sugar is similar to brown sugar. Because I love the spices used in pumpkin pie such as cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves, I incorporated them into my loaves as well. I wanted to add a little texture and crunch to my loaves, so I topped my loaves with walnuts. If you wanted to, you could throw in some dark chocolate chips or raisins into these loaves and skip the topping of walnuts.

Pumpkins are low in calories, but are a great source of dietary fiber, antioxidants, minerals and vitamins. Pumpkin is a rich source of the all-important antioxidant beta-carotene.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and spray two 8X4 pans with baking spray. (Or grease pans with coconut oil, and dust with flour)
In one bowl, stir together the flour, spices, baking soda and powder.
In another bowl, beat together the coconut oil and sugar with an electric hand mixer on medium until blended.
Add the vanilla and eggs, and blend until light.
Add the pumpkin and blend well.
In two batches, add the flour mixture into the wet mixture, mixing lightly just until incorporated.
Pour the batter into the prepared pans, sprinkle with the walnuts, and bake for about 55 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
Cool 15 minutes, then remove from the pans.
Place the loaves on a wire rack and cool to room temperature.

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